Disney CEO Bob Iger Wants to Keep ‘Deadpool’ R-Rated

The Disney-Fox deal officially happened this morning, and everyone is either excited or terrified. Excited because this means almost all of Marvel’s properties will finally be under one roof once again, terrified because we have no idea what this means for the future of those movies. A ton of companies being driven by one über-company doesn‘t exactly sound like a recipe for creative license.

For now, Disney is doing its best to calm everyone down and assure us that our fears are unfounded. According to The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Fritz, who is part of the pool invited to the acquisition conference, CEO Bob Iger says that he intends to keep running with certain ongoing series, such as the Deadpool movies.

“May be an opportunity”? “As long as we let audiences know what’s happening”? I mean… we know. And we like it! Deadpool singlehandedly convinced studios (well, Fox) that R-rated superhero movies are not only fun for audiences to watch, they’re successful. Without Deadpool, we’d have no Logan, which has appeared on a number of Best of 2017 year-end lists and is sure to show in some categories at the Oscars. The fact that Iger sees that and has taken pains to mention it is encouraging. The fact that he’s wording it so cautiously is a little worrying.

Audiences are ready for our franchises to go in new directions. Let’s hope that Disney is willing to take the risks necessary to make that happen.